Nine lawmakers flipped votes on guns-in-bars

Nine lawmakers flipped their votes on an amendment to the guns-in-bars/restaurants bill after some last-minute lobbying by the National Rifle Association, the CA says in a follow-up to an article that ran last week.

Eight Republicans and one Democrat changed their committee votes from supporting an amendment by Rep. Harry Tindell that sought to separate restaurants from bars to voting against it on the House floor. An NRA lobbyist was given the unusual privilege of speaking to the House Republican Caucus just before the floor vote; she told them a vote for the amendment would be held against them in upcoming elections.

House Speaker Kent Williams and some rank-and-file Republicans have questioned the propriety of granting a lobbyist for one side of the issue special access just before the vote.